Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
by RebellionLies
Summary: Kitty Pryde had plenty of time to think as she sat in that monastery with her own blood soaking her clothes. A KittyxBobby fic.
1. Intro

**So, I guess I'm another one of those people that loved the implications of BobbyxKitty that DOFP offered, so these are just my expansions of what I wished happened. It's also a look through Kitty's memories at what she got up to from between The Last Stand and DOFP.**

**The title is inspired (obviously) by M83, cause I just felt like it fit the pair really well. I can't really promise speedy updates, as my mind tends to jump around, thus not allowing me to write things in order, but I did write up an entire timeline starting where The Last Stand left off, so I think that'll be useful. Please let me know what you think, as encouragement does wonders to my ego and usually gives me more incentive to write faster.**

**Disclaimer: I obvs don't own, lol.**

* * *

Bobby Drake's worried looks were driving Kitty insane. Professor X had brought up the trip to the past only an hour before, and they had been discussing and outlining the plan for the past sixty minutes. She could feel his eyes on the side of her face, burning holes into her skin.

"Logan?" Professor X spoke, snapping the large man from the reverie he seemed to have fallen into.

"Mm, yeah?"

"Are you sure about this?" the professor's authoritative tone softened as he looked onto one of his most difficult pupils. Kitty knew that if Logan were to voice his concerns he'd prefer to do it in private. The Wolverine and Shadowcat became surprisingly close friends at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, but Kitty pulled away and headed down a concrete corridor, wanting time alone to mentally prepare for the task ahead of her.

* * *

_"__We need Logan back," Kitty overheard Storm say to Professor X. He had only returned two months ago, with a surprisingly docile Magneto in tow, but the anti-mutant supporters were growing more and more violent. War was on the horizon, and Kitty understood their need for Wolverine to return. _

_After the events of the Dark Phoenix and battle at Alcatraz a few years earlier, Logan had disappeared. There were rumours around the school of him having gone off and finally picking a fight he didn't win, or getting captured by Trask Industries, but Kitty didn't believe in idle gossip. He had told her once about the cabin in Canada where he went when things got a bit too rocky; and she could understand his need for solitude, especially after the deaths of Jean and Professor X. Well, supposed death on the part of Charles Xavier. _

_"__Hey, Kitty, what's up?" Kitty's head whipped up, and she shifted uncomfortably as she realized that Bobby Drake had just caught her eavesdropping. She gave him a guilty grin, but remained silent, nodding towards the slightly ajar door. _

_"__Hm," he murmured after a few moments, "So, they really think this will be war, eh?" _

_Kitty laughed quietly, "You'll fit right in with the Canadians, 'eh?' I should bring you with me," immediately she sobered up, "And of course this is war. You heard about the Mexico-U.S. wall. Everyone knows its true purpose."_

_"__You're going to go look for him? You know he might not even be there," Bobby sounded resigned rather than irritated, and Kitty could tell that he had guessed her plan the moment he had walked down those steps. The boy could read her like a book, and sometimes she wished he couldn't. _

_"__I can take care of myself, Bobby," she bit out._

_"__Oh, I know you can," he sighed, a hand reaching out to smooth back a bit of her hair, but then his tone grew playful, "Can you even cross the border at eighteen?" _

_Kitty's brows furrowed together, "Uh…"_

_"__I'm messing with you, Kit, you can." _

_She gave him an accusatory look, "You've been planning for this as well," his hand flew up to his own hair, messing up the sandy locks. Boy-code for guilty. Even Kitty knew that one._

_"__I might've. But, hey! The drinking age in Alberta is eighteen, so you can party all you want with Logan." _

_"__Yech," she made a face, "Not with Logan, my God, and anyways, I'm pretty sure I'm headed for B.C. instead… But, seriously, Bobby, do you want to come help me?"_

_Bobby sighed, "I want to help, of course, but I don't know if that would be a good idea right now." _

_"__Ah." Bobby and Rogue's relationship had been off and on for the past several years, ever since the Dark Phoenix, especially with Rogue wanting to find the cure that there had been rumours about, existing in Boston. Bobby didn't like it. He was determined that it was a ploy, created by the _pure_ humans to lure mutants into their grasps. Kitty was ashamed to say that she agreed with him._

_"__I'm sor-"_

_"__No," she cut him off, "No, it's okay. I understand."_

_"__When are you leaving?"_

_"__No time like the present, right?" Bobby's eyes softened. _

_"__You think Professor X is going to try to stop you?" he asked, nodding towards the door._

_Kitty bit her lip, "I'm hoping their conversation stays stimulated enough that he won't notice me slip away… If all else fails, I'll rely on you though."_

_"__Oh no," he groaned, "For what?"_

_Her grin resembled a shark's, "A distraction."_

_Kitty had left an hour later. The meeting had just ended, but Bobby stayed true to his word, running into the professor's office just as everyone was standing to leave._

_"__Peter and John are scrapping out in the courtyard!" Storm glared down at the floor, muttering something about idiotic behaviour before sweeping out of the room._

_Kitty had hurried from the mansion, catching the first Greyhound that would take her up to Vancouver. After several days of hitchhiking through the lush rain forests of British Columbia, she finally got her first sign._

_"__Is there something I can help you with?" he was native by the looks of it, and probably only a few years older than Kitty herself, with long hair and wide shoulders._

_"__Er, yes, I think so. I have a friend that mentioned owning a cabin out in these parts, I- well, you wouldn't know about any around here, would you?" _

_The man looked thoughtful, before nodding, "I would. Does this friend have a name?" _

_"__Logan." Kitty watched as the man's facial expressions changed, finally deciding on distrustful._

_"__I'll take you there, but I know that he isn't going to be home," Kitty swore, this whole trip was for nothing, "How do you know Logan?"_

_"__I sort of go to school with him, I guess. He's a friend." she watched as the tension left his body, and he seemed to relax._

_"__Well, then, it's your choice if you still want to go. His cabin's been burnt down to the ground." Kitty turned cold, her breath leaving her lungs with a _whoosh._ "There's no body, my brother and I checked, but we don't know where he's gone."_

_"__I still want to go."_

_"__Alright, then, it's a whole day's hike, so c'mon back to mine and we can head out in the morning. Unless you'd prefer to find a motel, that is?"_

_"__No, that will be fine with me."_

_"__In that case, I'm James Proudstar."_

_"__Kitty Pryde."_


	2. New Map

**Thank you so much for all of the reviews/follows/favourites for chapter 1! There's a little bit more Bobby in this one, but you'll start to see him much more in later chapters. I have a thing about female protagonists relying on themselves, but you'll still see Bobby get to play the hero pretty soon!**

**The action's picking up...**

* * *

_The pair had been sat in front of the television, sipping from mugs of tea when the news report they were watching was interrupted by a frantic looking presenter. _

"_Anette Lange here with the latest report: Spotted crossing the border just two hours ago, it would appear that the anti-mutant machines known as Sentinels have crossed the border and are entering Canada. It is unclear as to how many, or even if this intrusion has been ordered by Trask Industries. So far we are unable to get the Prime Minister to comment on whether this entrance was permitted by the federal government__…"_

* * *

She stepped from the room, inhaling deeply and observing the table at which she would be spending her last hours, when a hand wrapping around her arm knocked the breath out of her. She gasped in surprise, looking up into familiar icy eyes that belonged to none other than Bobby Drake.

"Kitty," his voice was warning.

She gave him a half-smile, "I'll be okay, Bobby. I always am."

"This is the most vulnerable we've ever been, and hopefully as we'll ever be. I don't like it."

Kitty gazed up into his face, her eyes pleading, "This is our chance to save everyone. Our last chance. I have to take it."

He stared at her for a long time, drinking in her features. The smooth skin, pale from their long months of staying underground, keeping hidden. Her little nose with the slightest upturn to it, her primrose lips, and finally back to her eyes. They were soft chocolate, warm and glowing, but most of all, they were exhausted. There were small lines around her eyes from strain only adding to the aged look in her brown orbs. They were ancient, and it devastated him to see her look so defeated.

At last, he nodded, his lips pursed, and he moved to leave the room.

"Bobby!" she called after him, and he looked back at her, "Will you… will you stay?"

His eyes held a promise, "Couldn't keep me away."

* * *

_James was a quiet fellow, a trait Kitty found herself comfortable with. She herself used to be chattier, but maturity had taught her to hold her tongue, and being best friends with Bobby meant that she was used to the silence anyways. Something about Alcatraz had changed him, and she found that the once cheerful mutant was slowly drawing within himself. Kitty missed the old Bobby of course, but the silences they shared were never uncomfortable, always companionable._

_Kitty and James hiked through the quiet forest, him occasionally pointing out an elk or rabbit, until they started noticing a pattern._

"_All the animals are heading North.__" __Kitty looked sharply up at James. The day__'__s light was fading fast, causing the forest to grow dim, but she had noticed it too. Squirrels, deer, even birds; all of the woodland creatures they had seen were all going in the same direction._

"_That__'__s not normal, is it?__"_

_His eyebrows were furrowed, __"__No__… __It__'__s not,__" __he murmured, __"__Generally, this would be a sign that something__'__s going to happen. Like natural disasters: earthquakes, tsunamis, the like. They can tell when something bad is about to happen.__"_

_Kitty opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted as she pushed through a shrub to enter a clearing._

_A clearing with the blackened shell of a cabin in its centre. _

_To his credit, James didn__'__t flinch when Kitty walked through the wreckage. She had her own suspicions about his being a mutant, considering his acceptance of knowing Logan through her school. He crept through the burnt wood and sooty stone with cautious steps._

_Kitty stood in the middle of what she assumed to be a living room, what looked to be a stove and the remnants of a toaster sat on a counter to her left. Crossing the singed carpet to a stone mantelpiece, Kitty picked up a photograph, gazing at it sadly. It was a class photo of a group of the senior students in the Danger Room, Jean, Storm, and Logan standing at the back of the group of smiling teens. Kitty picked out herself, standing between Pyro and Jubilee._

"_How long has it been like this?__" __Kitty found herself asking._

"_Mm, better part of a year now,__" __James said thoughtfully, __"__Do you know who might__'__ve done this?__" __Kitty had to smile at that._

"_Any number of people, honestly. Logan isn__'__t very good at making friends.__" _

"_Yeah, I gathered that.__" _

_When Kitty__'__s inspection didn__'__t reveal anything new, the pair left, parting ways when they got back to James__' __town. _

_It was only a few short days later when Kitty ran into her first Sentinel. The machine was huge and made of a sleek black metal that shone brightly against the backdrop of forests. The fascination Kitty had once held for the artificially intelligent machines when she had first been introduced to their concept had since faded into a deep disgust, but when she came into such close contact with the vile creatures, she realized her true emotions towards them: fear._

_Kitty__'__s first instinct had been to run, but then her training kicked in. Facing the metal monster, Kitty phased, running at it with the intention of short-circuiting its hardware. Emerging on the other side, she turned, grinning and barely holding in a fist-pump when she realized her antic had worked. The Sentinel was slumped over, the light fading in its eyes as she watched, but a sharp pain in Kitty__'__s leg made her pause in her little celebration._

_A flashy red dart was sticking out of her thigh, about the length of her hand from palm to fingertips._

"_What the__…__?__" __she grasped its length and pulled it agonizingly from the muscle it had lodged in. The end of the dart that had pierced her skin was a grotesque piece of metal that looked a little too thick to be a needle, but clearly had the same task as she felt the edges of her vision blur in an imitation of drunkenness. No one else was around that she could see, but the forest was wavering and spinning, making her search much more difficult. Finally, Kitty was able to pick out a flash of unnatural darkness against the bright day, but before she could focus on what, or who, it was, black swam into her vision and she lost consciousness. _


	3. When Will You Come Home?

**Hey guys, sorry I'm a bit late posting this chapter. I'm hoping to upload every Friday, but I'm also working about 5 days a week now, so I have a lot less time on my hands to write. Reviews and favourites are great motivation though, so thanks for the encouragement :)**

**You'll probably notice that I am taking some creative liberties with this story (obvs lol), and as I am not a reader of the comics there'll probably be some stuff that may or may not make sense(?) but you're always welcome to PM me to share ideas or similarities etc. I have, however, taken a pretty in depth look at the "25 Moments" website put up for DOFP, and it gave me a lot to work with and helped me make a timeline of the events that happened. I totally recommend checking it out.**

* * *

Kitty didn't know how long she had been sat beside that table, but a considerable amount of time had passed since she had sent Logan back. She winced at a burst of turbulence in their connection as Logan's mind tried pulling him from the past and back to the present. The light flowing from her fingers squirmed, growing brighter as she tried to force him to stay under. His head began rolling on the table, groans escaping him, and Kitty squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on the link.

"I'm losing him, he's slipping back!" she muttered to the group around her.

Quite suddenly, Logan's mouth opened wide, a roar echoing around the cavern; and Kitty had just enough time to look up to Bobby, meeting his eyes before the man on the table began thrashing. His claws extended with a familiar _snikt_ as he fought an invisible enemy, and Kitty had to duck her head to avoid one meaty hand.

Bobby leapt back, and simultaneously Kitty felt her side explode with fire. She shrieked in agony as the metal claws slid through her leather jacket like butter, and sliced through the skin of her ribs.

It took all that she had to keep her hands steady over the table, never breaking the link. She hunched over, gasping for air as her body tried to deal with the shock of sudden pain. Magneto immediately raised a hand, forcing Logan's hands down by his claws.

Bobby was at her side in seconds, "Oh, God, Kitty," he dropped to his knee and turned to Magneto and Xavier, "She's wounded pretty bad!" The room echoed with Kitty's desperate gasps for air as he tentatively pressed his gloved hands against the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

Bobby was murmuring words of encouragement into her ear, "C'mon, Kitty, you're so strong. You can do this. Focus on me, don't focus on the pain." Kitty was whimpering, her head bowed, and hair curtaining her face, "Look at me, Kit, please."

She shook her head, face still hidden as her shoulders shook with quiet sobs. Logan was still restless on the table, and Bobby spared him an anxious look, unsure whether he would attack again.

Magneto silenced his fears when he spoke, "Restrain him."

* * *

_Concentration Camp L was never quiet. There were creaks and moans from its inhabitants, shouts of abuse from the guards, and the mechanical whirring that came with the presence of the Sentinels. Every so often, one could hear a crack and scream as another mutant attempted to use their powers and was shocked by one hundred watts of concentrated electricity that came from the plastic collars around their necks. _

_Kitty Pryde was one such mutant. A prisoner of Camp L for the past four months, she was just barely hanging onto the hope that she might one day be free again. She had met Nightcrawler and Angel there a few weeks back, but both had mysteriously vanished, and any attempts at asking after them were met only with a beating. Whether they were even still alive she didn__'__t know._

_Kitty often wondered about her other friends, about the school, and about her family. Her family, she supposed, were probably dead, the Sentinels having already begun attacking any human with the X-gene in their bloodline. When the thought had first crossed her mind, Kitty had immediately suppressed it, not wanting to believe the most obvious outcome; but she had since found herself unable to deny the probability of their fates, and chose not to dwell on it._

_She wondered about Bobby, and Rogue, and if Logan had ever come back to Westchester. Kitty couldn__'__t even remember the last exchange she had shared with Logan. He had left before she had even returned from Alcatraz with the others, his room half-missing, both from his having packed his things, and also having destroyed it in what was probably a fit of rage and despair. It had been three -going on four- years since she had seen him last now, and the thought made her sad. It occurred to Kitty at some point that she must have missed her nineteenth birthday._

_Rogue was different. Since her disappearance, since Alcatraz. She never did follow through with getting the cure, as Sentinels had appeared not long after she had arrived, and opened fire into the crowd. Rogue had fled back to the school, back to Bobby, but Kitty could still see that resentment in her eyes, and knew that Rogue__'__s choice to return was not her own._

_The last time Kitty had seen Bobby, he had helped her leave the school, off in search of Logan__'__s cabin. At the time, it had seemed like a grand adventure, something to write in her dusty old journal about when she got back a week or two later. It was almost a year since Bobby had pulled her into his cool body, wrapping his arms around her and dropping a kiss onto her hair before turning back to head into the school as she left to catch a greyhound bus. _

_She missed Bobby. He was the constant in her life, her best friend. The one that could sense her every emotion, even when she tried so hard to hide it, and he could always make her feel better. Sometimes, when it got especially bad, when she had been without food for three days, or when the doctors had locked her up in that adamantium box, she could almost imagine Bobby__'__s voice speaking to her, telling her jokes and stories, and reminding her that her would always be there to fix her. But each time he was interrupted by a wail from another room, or the clanging of Kitty__'__s adamantium cage when the doctors shook it, snarling at her to get up._

_Before her relocation to Concentration Camp L, Kitty had woken up in a laboratory where they tested her for her abilities, trying to see if they could evolve the Sentinels further to adopt her power of intangibility. It was oddly familiar, the way Kitty__'__s doctors talked about __"__adopting__" __powers from the mutants they captured, as if she had heard someone talking about it in a different lifetime. While she could never place it, the thought stuck in her head for the duration of her stay._

_From the angry looks of her doctor__'__s faces, and their increasing aggression towards her over her seven month stay, she figured that they hadn__'__t. Unable to reproduce her mutation, the doctors were finally resigned to design an adamantium-infused plastic collar that would work specifically to keep Kitty from phasing. After seven agonizing months of cold metal tables, needles, and scalpels, a fire destroyed half of the lab, forcing them to release their hold on Kitty. This resulted in a month of waiting, and finally, her arrival in Concentration Camp L in Redding, California. _

_Home, sweet home. _


	4. Soon, My Friend

**3 days late ****this time, I know, sorry! I think I might just say that I'll hopefully have a new chapter up every weekend, rather than limiting myself to Fridays, cause sometimes work is hectic, or I'm away over the summer etc. In advance, I'll warn you guys that I am going away for the long weekend, so I won't have a chapter up until at least Monday next weekend. Man, I struggled with this chapter though. I had a very vague idea about what would happen, but I really should've outlined it earlier and not procrastinated so much.**

**This is the longest chapter yet! Over 2,000 words!**

**Happy reading, and please, please review! It makes my day!**

* * *

"Please, Kitty," Bobby whispered. Slowly, she lifted her head. Her face was tense with pain, eyes screwed shut, and he could see that she was biting her bottom lip hard enough to bruise. "I need to look at it," he said, "I need to see how bad it is." ever so slowly, she nodded, sweat forming on her forehead.

Iceman removed his hands from her and pinched a piece of her shredded jacket between his fingers as he moved it aside to get a better look at the wound. She let out a small groan at the movement, thick blood oozing steadily from the tears in her skin. They were three bloody lines across her side, the cuts surprisingly jagged for the sharpness and precision of Wolverine's blades.

Logan calmed. Kitty swallowed hard before speaking, "I got him."

Professor X brought his chair around to where Kitty sat, hunched with pain, "Kitty Pryde," he said, hid voice gentle, soothing, "I am so terribly sorry."

Kitty gave a strangled sob at this, "Please, Professor. Don't… I know what I'm doing." he carefully reached a hand out to place on her forearm.

"I know, you aren't a child anymore, Kitty. You're a leader, and you are invaluable to us, but Logan -the future- needs you to keep holding on." Kitty raised her eyes to meet his: golden brown and gentle blue. So different from Bobby's icy gaze. Carefully, she nodded her head, and Professor X gave a nod in return before leaving the room to return to Magneto.

* * *

_Kitty knew it was time to go. She wouldn__'__t last too much longer in Camp L, especially not after the guards had caught her giving some of her food to a young boy with three eyes. She wasn__'__t sure how many days ago that had been, but she certainly hadn__'__t eaten since then. _

"_Kitty!__" __the boy approached her with his big, sad eyes, __"__They say they__'__re moving some of us to Camp X-Ray!__"_

"_Oh no-no-no-no,__" __Kitty muttered under her breath, __"__Thanks, Sully. Run back to your sister now.__" __But he didn__'__t budge._

"_You__'__re gonna try and get out, aren__'__t you?__" _

"_I- yes, I have to try.__"_

_Sully screwed up his mouth, looking as though he was trying very hard not to cry, __"__Everyone__'__s already tried, Kitty. None of them made it.__"_

"_I know, I know, but I think I can do this. I__'__ll need your help though.__"_

_He sniffed, __"__Really?__"_

"_Yes, you__'__re the most important piece.__"_

"_What do I do?__" _

"_Well, first, I need you to go find Kira. She__'__ll help me escape detection, but then I__'__ll need you to be very brave for me, Sul, __'__cause I__'__ll need your powers.__"_

_Sully swallowed, his gaze holding nothing but trust for her, __"__Okay,__" __he scampered off through the crowd of mutants, leaving Kitty where she leaned against a wall._

_Kira and Sully appeared moments later, Kira__'__s expression a mixture of scepticism and distrust. Kira was a pretty girl of about twenty-seven with golden eyes and pitch black hair. There were intricate black patterns scrawled down the side of her face from above one eye to her left cheek bone. Above the other eye was an angry red slash shaped into a crude __"__M.__" __Kitty knew that she was due for her marking any day now. They were a new idea of one of the members at Trask Industries, to scar any mutant__'__s faces into an M, similar to the red dot of the Japanese flag being sewn onto Japanese prisoners during the second world war. It made Kitty sick. She had seen too many die from infections, a common occurrence in the prisoner camps, and too many beautiful people disfigured by the ugly marking._

_Kitty had a plan from nearly the moment she had entered Camp L, but she never put into action. It never seemed like the right time. Either the guards seemed too suspicious, or the Sentinels were stationed nearer to the gates than usual, or else Kitty was too weak. Everyone knew who Kitty was, it drew some mutants, like Sully, to her, but most avoided her like the plague. She was given the least food, the leakiest cell, and the worst beatings when she acted out. _

_She was procrastinating, and she knew it. Waiting for a perfect moment that would never happen. Waiting, she grudgingly admitted to herself, to be rescued. Kitty had never much admired princesses anyways, so she put her plan into place, deciding to rescue herself._

"_Kitty.__" __Kira__'__s voice was sullen, but she could detect a hint of curiosity._

"_Kira, I have a plan, but you have to please hear me out on this,__" __Kitty muttered. _

_Kira__'__s eyebrows raised, knowing Kitty meant escape, __"__You__'__re fucking insane. Jesus, Kitty, you know what happens to the people getting caught trying to escape. And you also know what happens to those caught helping them. There__'__s no way.__"_

"_Just hear me out, then you can refuse if you want to.__" __Kira crossed her arms._

"_Fine.__"_

_Kitty took a deep breath, __"__Okay, so the shock is never fatal, right? And they can only remotely shock us when we__'__re in range, so that means that if I can survive long enough to get out of range undetected, then I could make it,__" __Sully nodded enthusiastically, __"__Now, the only two issues are how I__'__m going to stay undetected, and how I can keep them from tracking me.__"_

_It had been discovered shortly after Kitty__'__s arrival at the lab, that the dart that had been shot into her leg had contained a tracking device that throbbed for the first month after it had been made itself a home in her leg. She had heard the doctors talking about it, and felt the uncomfortable vibrations when they had activated it. The doctors, or whitecoats, as some mutants had dubbed them, were often cruel, vengeful humans. They felt no remorse in their experiments, having detached themselves from their actions. Kitty was certain that a fair few of them were sociopaths, and probably would've been locked up if anyone had found a way to be privy to their thoughts._

_There would be no painless or easy way to get the tracker out of her leg. It would have to be removed like a band-aid. Quickly, and devastatingly bloody. That was where Sully came in. His ability, as he had proudly told Kitty, was "moving stuff." She later learned from his banshee sister, Violet, that by moving stuff, he meant with his mind. Sully was telekinetic, and a powerful one, having been taken at the age of seven with his ten year old sister. Their parents, as far as Kitty knew, were dead. Kira had been brought to Camp L around the same time as Sully and Violet, and had taken it upon herself to become their new guardian and protector, making sure that the pair stayed out of trouble and under the radar. Kira had earned her "M" when defending the pair after Sully had kicked a guard in the shins. Kira's power wasn't quite invisibility, but more the ability to __exist without being noticed. If one looked hard enough, they could see her, but without knowing what they were looking for, their eyes would skate right over her. It was exactly what Kitty needed to get out of the camp, even if it meant causing them both pain._

_She explained the plan to them with a heavy heart, knowing that she wouldn't be able to bring them with her, "All I can promise is that I'll find the remaining X-Men and we'll come back. We'll come back and get you." Sully's eyes shone, showing none of the scepticism that Kira's broadcasted. _

_"I wanna do it," Sully exclaimed, looking at Kira, "I'm gonna be a hero, just like the X-Men." Kitty's eyes pricked with tears, knowing that the little boy she would come back to would not be the same one sat cross-legged before her now. Kira's eyes were on her fingers in her lap. They were twisting and curling around each other, and Kitty could tell that she was getting closer to convincing her. _

_Her voice was small when she finally spoke, "How do we know you won't just leave?" _

_"You don't," Kitty said sadly, "That's why you have to trust me. Trust who I am, and the X on my belt. Please, please trust me Kira. I don't want to leave any of you here, but I don't see any other way. This is our chance for me to help as many of the mutants here as possible, and I need you to trust me enough to take that chance." _

_Kira finally looked up, meeting Kitty's eyes, "How old are you?"_

_Kitty counted in her head silently before speaking, "I think I'm about nineteen." Kira nodded to herself, and when she met Kitty's eyes again, they held resignation, but also hope._

_Kira scoffed, "You're just a kid. Well, I hope you know what you're doing. I don't trust you, Kitty, but I do trust that X on your belt. If you really are one of them, and you did fight in that battle in San Francisco, then you aren't completely useless," Kitty felt her own surge of hope radiate through her, "Look, you have to come back though. I need you to swear that you will. If not for me, or any other mutants in this damn camp, do it for those kids, 'cause they don't deserve the life they're getting in here. Those kids need a childhood, and they're not gonna get it in here." Kitty tried to put all of her feelings into a look she directed at the older girl, before turning back to Sully._

_"Alright, kid, lets make this happen."_

_It was painful, oh yes. Kitty pulled the belt out of her pants after Kira had rendered Kitty nearly invisible. Putting it between her teeth, as Kira moaned on the ground beside her, still reeling from the shock, Kitty took Sully's hand to let him know she was there, and directed it over her leg where the tracking device resided. Sully closed his hand into a fist, and then quickly opened it, a sharp tugging in Kitty's leg happening simultaneously. All of a sudden, Kitty felt coolness on her leg where her pants had ripped to allow the tracker to exit, and then fire where the open wound burned. _

_She gasped quietly when the pain hit her, soundless under Sully's cry of pain, but immediately spat out the belt, dragging herself to her feet. She leaned over Sully's form jerkily and kissed his forehead, whispering a hurried "thank you" before phasing through the wall and collapsing with a jerk on the other side of the fence._

_When Kitty was able to rise again, she limped out of the gate, passing right between the two armed guards, M16s held tightly in their grasps. When Kitty had made it to the closest town, she found an abandoned home, swallowing hard and trying hard to ignore its similarities to her parents' house back in Illinois. The invisibility had worn off by the time she had fallen into the smaller bedroom of the house. Tiredly, Kitty wrapped her leg up tightly before dragging the blankets and a pillow from the queen-sized bed into the closet curling up on the floor._

_Kitty fell asleep before her head hit the pillow, her last thought being of freedom._


	5. Reunion

**Here it is, the longest chapter yet! Once again, I'm sorry about the wait, but I hope that the content will make up for it. You guys should know what's coming, given the chapter title after all! ;)**

**(Sully and Violet weren't meant to be named after the Pixar characters, but I did notice it and decided to keep it in.)**

**Enjoy, and please let me know if you liked it!**

* * *

Bobby had left the room momentarily to find their pathetically small first aid supply. He had dealt with much worse wounds, and he knew Kitty had as well, but there was always a way to fix them, to rest up until they healed. Kitty wouldn't have that chance. All they had was the hope that Logan would be quicker in mending the past.

Finding the small bag that contained sterile bandages and hopefully some painkillers, he pulled it angrily from the shelf. He couldn't possibly bind her side properly, and it frustrated him immensely. Kitty wouldn't be able to remove her jacket or shirt without interrupting her link, she would have to sit there in her bloody clothes for however long it took Logan to fucking hurry up and fix this mess.

Pawing through the medical supplies, Bobby's veins turned icy. There weren't even any pain killers left. Kitty would have to be strong enough to last through it. Exhaling sharply, Bobby stormed from the room, striding the familiar path to a deeper cavern. Kitty would know what was wrong if he went back to her now, he needed to get out and cool off.

* * *

_Sticking to the shadows made Kitty laugh. It felt like a sick joke, a play on her codename, _Shadowcat_. And yet, she had been doing it since her escape from Camp L those few months earlier. It was hard keeping track of the days, instead of being measured in meals and when one went to bed, they were measured in the destruction that occurred in the world. The world had been buzzing with the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York, and despite the promise of danger that it brought, Kitty found herself being drawn back to New York, and unconscious need to be close to the school, close to where she had last seen her friends. While __"__sleeping__" __in an abandoned subway station, Kitty had overheard two mutants talking about there being plans for a similar protest at the X-Mansion._

_Rumours had spread like wildfire in the concentration camps, especially amongst the guards. They heard of some mutants fighting back, scoffing derisively at their boldness, but Kitty could hear an edge to their laughter that made a pit of grim satisfaction swell in her belly._

_The colder weather gave Kitty a plausible excuse to wear a large piece of grey cloth wrapped around her throat like a scarf, allowing her to hide the still blinking inhibitor collar that she dreaded so much. The awful piece of plastic had made itself a home around her neck for about a year, and it pained Kitty to know how long it had been since she had truly phased. _

_Somehow, in the camps, Kitty had managed to remain relatively healthy. Other than a wracking cough that shook her thinning frame and the constant barrage of injuries she received from guards that were especially cruel, she hadn__'__t gotten as sick as some of the inmates had. It seemed, however, that her luck had run out when she did finally escape. _

_The wracking cough had turned into an endlessly running nose and fast fading energy. She was burning up with fever throughout the days, and at night it cooled against her skin and left her shivering in the sharp March air. Spring would come late this year, as Kitty saw the frost every morning when she woke up, and she could feel in her bones at night as she tried to sleep. The gash in her leg from Sully having removed the tracker had gotten infected, and she had been forced to spend two weeks hidden in the basement of another California home to recover. Ever since, she had been wandering at night, trying to make her way back to New York and avoiding Sentinels and any other living beings. _

_From what Kitty caught of the news, the Occupy Wall Street protests were violent, and the authority, as police had been since called, were divided in their actions. Some relished in the aggression they were able to exercise on the crowds, while others were reluctant, seeming to side with the ninety-nine percent. Kitty had found a small handheld radio in one of the houses she stayed in to keep up with the major news, but no longer needed it after hot-wiring a car in Utah to take her to New York. _

_Kitty had only ever driven a car once before. There was this time when the group had gone out for ice-cream, a couple months before the battle of Alcatraz. She, Peter, Bobby, and Rogue had been training since noon that day, and Storm, seeing how exhausted the group were, let them roam before dinner. Scott had reluctantly handed Bobby the keys to one of his cars, a tiny Volvo that barely fit the four of them. With Peter driving and Kitty as the smallest, she had been made to sit in the seat behind him with her knees tucked up to her chest to give him enough leg room to actually drive. Rogue had called shotgun, leaving Bobby to squeeze into the back with Kitty. He gave her a quick, sympathetic smile at her situation, and then gazed out the window, commenting on a movie that had just been released that he had wanted to see for a while. Kitty listened half-heartedly until they got to the little ice-cream shop where she chose a small cone of chocolate ice-cream. _

_The boys had been debating over the latest trailer released for some movie when Bobby turned to her, __"__Hey, Kitty, have you ever driven before?__" _

_Pulled from her reverie, Kitty glanced up at him with wide eyes, __"__Er, no. I can__'__t get my licence until next year.__" __Bobby smiled at her mischievously, holding up a set of dangling keys. _

"_Wanna give it a go?__" __Kitty hesitated._

"_Are you sure this is a good idea?__" __Peter asked. Rogue just folded her arms, smiling encouragingly at Kitty._

"_What could go wrong?__" __Bobby responded, __"__It__'__s just a quick spin around the parking lot.__"_

_Kitty pursed her lips in thought and finally decided, __"__Okay. I__'__ll do it.__"_

_It was when she was in Nebraska that she finally heard the news she had been waiting for since her departure from the school, __"__This is Caitlin Halley reporting from Xavier__'__s School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester were a new protest is taking shape on the school grounds. Founded by Charles Xavier, this school was widely known for its mutant program, training school-aged children possessing the X-gene to harness and control their abilities. It was speculated by some that Professor Xavier was training these young mutants to become weapons, resulting in often negative views on the school. Today, however, it is receiving widespread support from the very same group of people that are organizing the Occupy Wall Street with a new protest that aims to raise awareness of prejudice against mutants.__" __Kitty stopped breathing. It took her the better part of a month to cross the country, and Kitty could have sung when she finally saw the __"__You Are Entering The State of New York__" __sign fly past her on the road. _

_It was nearing midnight when the car rolled into the outskirts of Westchester. Plumes of smoke rose from the inner city, from where the school was. She drove as close as she dared, encountering more and more people along the way, some hurrying towards where the school was but more running in the opposite direction, fleeing the mansion. _

_Parking the car, Kitty grabbed the small backpack of things she had accumulated since her escape from Camp L and began limping towards the sound of chanting voices. _

"_Respect existence or expect resistance!__"_

"_Respect existence or expect resistance!__"_

"Respect existence or expect resistance_!__"_

_There were people with signs, flags, fists, and all of them were rallied in support of the mutants. Upon first glance, it seemed to be a peaceful protest, but then things began to connect. There weren__'__t any children. Protesters were in protective gear, many in leathers, and all of them were covering their faces with scarves and masks. Kitty was quick to pull her scarf up over her nose and mouth and move to the edge of the crowd. Little by little, Kitty jostled her way through the masses of people, making her way closer to the mansion she had once called home, and looking for familiar faces along the way. _

_She had just received an accidental elbow to the jaw when the ground shook violently and people stopped chanting and started screaming. From within the moving people, it was hard to make anything out, but then a familiar flash of black metal caught her eye and she knew the Sentinels had arrived. A man beside her hissed, his scarf having been knocked off in the fray, and she watched as his skin turned scaly, shimmering green, and a long tongue protruded from his mouth. It had gone from peace to war in seconds, and around her people were running or fighting, most of them angry, all of them fearful. _

_Kitty herself was terrified. Her last encounter with a Sentinel hadn__'__t ended well for her, and she still didn__'__t have any use of her powers without a debilitating shock. Not knowing what else to do, Kitty ran with the crowd, counting the Sentinels as she went. From what she could tell, there were six, but the smoke and fires made it difficult to tell. A sentinel just to her right advanced on a group of cowering mutants, when, quite suddenly, it froze. A sparkling layer of frost covered its torso, and from around it slid a magnificent sight._

_Bobby Drake. In all his glory, and on an ice slide too. _

_Kitty__'__s body went slack with relief, and it took all she had not to burst into tears then and there. Deliriously, she stumbled towards Bobby, not caring about the weight she was putting on her bad leg, not caring about the danger all around her. Only one thing existed to keep Kitty Pryde alive, and that was the thought that Bobby Drake was not dead. _

_Bobby had jumped from his slide, standing on the ground with his arms extended, spraying the Sentinel with more ice. When at last Kitty finally reached him, standing a scarce few metres away, the Sentinel was encased in a solid block of ice, and Bobby turned around. He didn__'__t see her at first, glaring determinedly around at the scene of destruction before him, when his eyes landed on her. _

_The first thing he noticed was that she hadn__'__t grown any taller. But that was about it with the similarities with the Kitty he thought was dead. She still had the delicate, pale skin, but now it was marred by dirt, blood, and scars. Still had the same messy brown hair, but it was longer, wilder. Her eyes were no longer the tender, naive brown ones that her remembered, but hardened with vulnerability, and aged with pain. Her shoulders were slumped and he could tell that he favoured her left leg. There were streaks down her face, tears making tracks through the dirt and the blood, and Bobby caught himself, striding towards her and forcefully pulling her into an embrace. The pair stayed like that for what seemed like forever, when Kitty slumped, exhaustion, relief, and joy taking over. Bobby dropped to the ground with her, wrapping his arms around her and whispering her name into her hair like a prayer._

"_Kitty, Kitty, Kitty.__"_


	6. Where The Boats Go

**Here's chapter 6! Sorry again about the wait. Life is crazy. This one is a bit more in Bobby's perspective, so I hope you like it!**

**Remember, reviews are always welcome!**

* * *

Kitty wished she could know what was going on in Logan's head. In the past. It made her wonder what would change in the future.

_Will I remember any of this? Will the others? Will Bobby even know__ me?__ Will I still care about him?_ She shook her head, grimacing as she jolted her torso the slightest bit.

Bobby should have gotten back by now. Their temporary infirmary was only a five minute walk. Where was he? There was a constant dripping sound coming from somewhere in the room, and if Bobby had left a tap on, she would kill him. Kitty had managed to calm down slightly, angrily wiping her unwanted tears on the sleeve of her jacket when Professor X wasn't looking.

As it was, her side had slowed into an aching thud, but she could feel the blood running down her skin, equally uncomfortable and distracting. Trying to pull her thoughts away from her injury, Kitty began counting the steady sound of whatever was dripping.

* * *

_When Bobby finally looked up again, the world had gone to shit. The Sentinels were wreaking havoc on any and all living things in their wake. Bodies were strewn across the grass like dolls, and the stench of burnt flesh was overwhelming. _

_Kitty, it seemed, had passed out._

_Bobby had learned over the past two years of war that the mind has even more unconscious control over the body than most think. If the senses danger, it will not allow the body to rest, eat, drink, until it feels that the danger has been dealt with in some way or another. Judging by the painfully dark bruises under Kitty__'__s eyes, she hadn__'__t slept in the past forty-eight hours, and even then, it had likely been months since an uninterrupted rest. _

_Now, collapsed in Bobby__'__s lap, was probably the safest Kitty had felt since leaving the school two years ago. It didn__'__t matter that there was a small-scale war going on around them, Bobby was the closest thing to a home she had right then, and her body decided that would be the opportune moment to catch some shut-eye. The thought nearly made Bobby laugh, but he remembered himself. _

_Colossus was facing off with a Sentinel closer to the school; Sunspot and Nightcrawler were working together to distract another; and Blink and Warpath, the golden team, were working together as always. Bobby had left the school with Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Colossus when things went South a year earlier. _

_Kitty had gone missing eighteen months ago, and Trask__'__s Sentinel program had advanced to the point that the Sentinels were shorting out and killing on their own more often than not. Trask himself steered clear of the accusations, but when the U.S.-Mexico wall had finally been finished, and Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay started taking mutants, he no longer held back. Sentinels were set loose to capture or kill mutants without command, and the world was chaos. Humans were killed in the fray, cities destroyed, the economy was ripped apart. The world was ending, or so it seemed, but somehow, on the ground, and with Kitty in his arms, Bobby felt that things were looking a little brighter. His best friend was alive._

_By the time Bobby__'__s small group of mutants had returned to the abandoned apartment building they had been staying in, Kitty was still out cold. Blink, with hands like silk and a voice even softer, told Bobby to lay her on a table as she prepared the scant medical supplies they had. Kitty looked even tinier on the table than Bobby remembered. Now, without any other distractions, he was finally able to study her, taking in the bruises on her face, the thinness of her wrists, and worst of all, the blood stains running down her pant leg. Blink was quick to return, cataloging the injuries and setting aside what she would need. _

_Turning to Bobby, she murmured warningly, __"__It might be best if you aren__'__t here.__" __Colossus left the room stoically, Nightcrawler was quick to follow. But Bobby was adamant._

"_I need to be here when she wakes up. I can__'__t leave her again,__" __his voice broke, worn with exhaustion, __"__She__'__s all I have left.__" __Blink nodded slowly and turned back to Kitty._

_Cutting open her pant leg revealed a blackish, swollen thigh, stained red with blood from a recent injury. That was the worst one. The other things were little; she was malnourished, dehydrated, had a scabbing scratch on her right arm, and a few floating ribs. _

_The efficiency with which Blink dealt with the injuries made Bobby wonder again if she had some secondary ability to heal. It wouldn__'__t surprise him. Ever since things had really gotten bad, around him Bobby was discovering more and more mutants developing secondary mutations that helped them adapt to this new age of revolution. _

_By far the most worrying thing about Kitty__'__s condition was the blinking collar around her neck. Blink claimed to have recognized it as an inhibitor, and Bobby sensed the adamantium infused beneath the plastic. There didn__'__t seem to be any obvious way of taking it off, and Blink refused to let anyone try before Kitty woke up and let them know exactly what it was._

_When Bobby woke, Kitty was still lying there, but her eyes were open, watching him tiredly. _

"_I didn__'__t think I was ever going to see you again,__" __her voice was hoarse with disuse, __"__I spent so much time preparing myself to face the fact that everyone was dead. I don__'__t- I don__'__t know what to do now.__"_

"_We looked for you, Kit. We looked for as long as we could, following you up to Canada when you didn__'__t check in. Met Warpath up there, and brought him back down with us when the trail went dead in Canada__…" __Bobby trailed off, realizing he was rambling, __"__What _happened_ to you, Kitty?__" __But Kitty turned her head away, refusing to answer. _

"_We can talk about it another time. Who__'__s Warpath, anyways? And where__'__s Professor X?__"_

_Bobby stood up, smiling, __"__Wanna meet the team?__"_

_Getting the collar off Kitty had been a struggle, but she was healing, taking advantage of bering able to return to her phased form finally. Her leg had had its setbacks, but it didn__'__t take too long before she was up and about, itching to do something, anything. _

_Recovery takes time. Bobby learned that the hard way, physically, mentally. Wounds would heal and scars would form, a reminder of forgotten pain. Of course, the mental always took longer. Or at least, it should. _

_If Kitty was haunted by what had happened to her over the two years she had been gone, she didn__'__t show it. She hid her weakness within her, retreating from the anger and sadness that should have been a part of the healing process, and replacing it with a disquieting acceptance. _

_Bobby tried several times to ask her about the camps, and while she revealed any helpful information she had, she din__'__t talk about her own experiences. Bobby had to make up for her silences, filling the empty spaces with his own stories and mindless chatter. It was a weird thing, Bobby, the formerly strong and silent one, taking Kitty__'__s place as the comforter, but it was necessary. Bobby knew Piotr and Kurt worried, even James, who had only known Kitty for those few days before her capture, understood that she was different. _

_Kitty woke screaming for weeks after finding the group again. Sometimes no one else heard and woke up, and she spent hours calming herself from the nightmare, only to fall back into a fitful, thrashing sleep until the morning._

_It was Bobby that noticed first. The dark circles under her eyes, and slow lethargy that seemed to take over her body some days. Her willingness to take extra watch shifts because she was so reluctant to close her eyes. When it wasn't her night to be on watch, she always phased herself elsewhere; likely into separate neighboring rooms, to sleep. Blink questioned it once, though it was soon written off that Kitty liked her privacy, but the thought stuck in Bobby__'__s brain__._

_The next time she woke screaming, he was there. Cool hands on her face, soothing back her sweaty hair and murmuring soft comforts to her._

_"How long?" he murmured to her._

_"Since the beginning." he inhaled sharply. She had been back for months. She shivered, and Bobby suddenly realized he had iced out, his rage overtaking him. He quickly thawed himself, retaining his natural warmth, and pulled Kitty towards him._

_There was a time, long ago, when this sort or gesture would be awkward and foreign, but it had been soon discovered by the group that physical comfort soothed many hurts. She sat, shivering, encircled in his arms until she finally warmed up and fell asleep, leaving him to keep watch the rest of the night._

_It was then that something changed in Kitty. Her will to live was reignited, and she finally let Bobby in, allowing him, somewhat reluctantly, to stay with her every night. The pair took their watches together, ate together, and slowly Kitty revealed her time away. It was a long process, earning her complete trust again, but, to Bobby, it was worth it. He got his best friend back. And she was no longer alone._


	7. Fountains

**Hello! I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be going away for a few weeks, but I'll have a chapter ready for when I do return. It's been a rough week, but I hope you like this chapter. I'm bouncing forward a bit in the timeline, but I think the story is nearing its end in the next few chapters. We'll see how things go.**

**Thanks again for all the lovely reviews, it brightens my day when I see that someone has taken the time to actually make a comment on my story, so thank you!**

**Without further ado, here's chapter 7!**

* * *

She had reached one hundred and seventy-six when Bobby returned with the med-kit. She noticed his eyes dropping to the floor as he came to stand beside her, refusing to meet her own, and she understood: he was angry.

"It's okay," she smiled softly up at him before he could make any excuse for having left, "Are there any signs of the Sentinels?"

Bobby didn't answer her immediately, his eyes still focused on the stones at her feet. Curiously, Kitty let her eyes drop to the floor, and a choked gasp escaped her as she saw what had drawn his attention. Her blood was pooling on the stone floor at her feet in a sea of red. The puddle was almost a square foot in diameter, and suddenly feeling ill, Kitty snapped her head back up, realizing what the dripping sound had actually been.

"My god, Kitty."

"Ah..."

"Kit... There aren't- there aren't anymore painkillers," he whispered to her.

Her lips pressed into a thin line, "I've had worse." And she had.

The second time they had gone up against the Sentinels had been the worst. Wholly unprepared, the team had lost Nightcrawler that night, and while each of them had suffered some sort of injury, the pain his loss brought lasted the longest.

* * *

_Kitty's left wrist had been broken severely. Bobby watched it happen when she was thrown by one of the Sentinels into the side of a brick wall__.__Blink and Warpath had been caught by one of the more evolved Sentinels, and both had raw burns on their bodies, melting right through their clothing. Sunspot had frostbite on a patch of his back, and Bishop's right arm and hip were raw with road burn. Colossus remained the most unscathed of the bunch, his mutated form providing him with the most protection. Iceman himself had a cut over his eye that proved to be merely annoying, though the blood running into his eyes was slightly more dangerous. A deeper contusion in his bicep was thrumming with distant pain, pain that would be held off until his adrenaline had run its course._

_The group retreated to an abandoned warehouse that was thankfully cool in the summer heat. Bobby quickly tended to Warpath and Blink, icing their burns and relieving them of some pain. Sunspot focused his energy into cauterizing Bobby's arm._

_Bobby looked around, counting heads. The missing one was too obvious, Nightcrawler's absence was a gaping hole in their routine.__As his gaze wandered, he found Kitty knelt beside Bishop, applying a thick salve to his raw arm. Her broken wrist was tucked into her ribs protectively, and had one not been looking closely, they could look right over her apparent injury. She looked up and met his gaze, her eyes narrowing as she glimpsed the still oozing cut on his forehead._

_Standing stiffly, she dipped the fingers of her good hand into the pot of salve and approached him wearily. Slowly, so as not to disturb the blob of salve on her curled fingers, she delved into a pocket of her cargo pants, searching until her small hand remerged with a white cloth._

_Kitty braced the elbow of her bad hand against his chest as she raised herself onto her toes to reach the cut. Dabbing it gently with the cloth, she then applied some of the salve before lowering herself and turning back to the others to address them__._

"_I__… __I know this is hard, but we__'__ve just had our asses handed to us. Nightcrawler may be gone, and God__… __this fucking sucks__… __but he would want us to fight,__" __her voice wavered with grief, and Kitty__'__s gaze dropped to her boots before she stuck her chin out defiantly, __"__We are _not_ going to give up. The next few days we__'__ll lay low, recover from this shitty, shitty day, but once we__'__re ready to move, we will. We can__'__t continue fighting blindly against the Sentinels. We need a plan, and we__'__re going to use these days of recovery to our advantage and come up with one.__" _

_Bobby watched in amazement as Kitty addressed her fellow X-Men with the authority of Professor X. _

"_You guys are angry, I know that. I am too. I want to tear those sons of bitches apart, but we can__'__t do that right now. Promise me -promise Nightcrawler- that you will help me avenge him.__" __There were looks of approval and murmurs of agreement from the small group she stood before, and Bobby realized that Kitty, the youngest, smallest X-Man it seemed they had left, had become their new leader. _

_When the murmurs died down, Kitty spoke once more, __"__Everyone get some sleep once you patch yourselves up. I__'__ll take the first watch.__" __She turned head to a vantage point in the building when Bobby intercepted her._

_"Kitty," Bobby spoke, "Let me set your wrist." She bit her lip instinctually with the anticipation of pain and nodded, before gesturing to the entrance of another room in the building._

_Kitty Pryde would be damned if she let the others see her cry._

_The bone had been put back into place with a _snap_ and a hoarse yelp of pain from Kitty where she sat on a table in front of him. She pulled a small wad of wrapping from her pocket and handed it to Bobby wordlessly as the tears ran down her cheeks. He made quick work of wrapping her wrist up tightly, and then stood, expecting her to follow._

_A small noise had him turning back to face the youngest X-Man. She had slid herself to the edge of the table she was sat on, but as she slipped off, he watched as Kitty's eyes went unfocused, and she swayed. Her good hand swung back to catch her on the table, but it missed, and she teetered. Bobby surged forward, his hands grabbing her shoulder and waist to keep her upright. His hand was wet. No, her waist was wet. _

_She pulled away from him instantly, not allowing him to say anything, __"__I__'__m fine, Bobby.__"_

_He scowled, __"__You__'__re not. Let me look at it,__" __her returning frown could have frozen a lake. So, of course it had no effect on Iceman. _

"_Fine,__" __she tried to shrug, but the movement was awkward and stiff, and she grimaced slightly from the pull of her wound. Shrugging out of her jacket, the shirt she wore beneath it was shredded. Her good hand caught a hold of the bottom seam of the fabric of her shirt, and she lifted it, struggling to release herself from the fabric. When she had finally wrestled out of it, Bobby was given a full view of her back, where it seemed to him as if her skin had been split diagonally in two. There was a long red line that began at the bottom of one of her shoulder blades, crossing her spine and curving around her side, ending just above the opposite hip. Kitty__'__s entire back below the wound looked like it had been dipped in red paint, and the top of her cargo pants were shiny with wetness, disguised only by their darkness. _

_Letting out a small huff, she muttered, __"__Better not have cut off my tat.__" __And Bobby saw it. _

_An inky dragon curled along her uninjured shoulder blade, its wings taut and partially folded, and a tail wrapping across her skin and dipping into the red. He let a breath out, gazing at the masterpiece. The lines were sharp, almost angry, as they slashed out a spiked tail and horned wings. It was the eyes he was drawn to: somehow, its eyes were intelligent, observant, and he felt almost like he was intruding, getting to see this magnificent creature._

"_It__'__s beautiful, Kitty.__" __She hummed in approval at his compliment, __"__But I think it might have gone through the end of his tail.__" __Was it even a he? Bobby pulled a cloth from his jacket that he had nicked from their med-kit. Placing one hand on her shoulder, just above the tattoo, Bobby pressed the cloth against her skin, stopping the bleeding where it hadn__'__t yet slowed. _

_The knuckles of her good hand were white as she gripped the table in front of her, __"__I wish this day had never happened,__" __Kitty hissed in pain as Bobby pressed the cloth into a particularly tender spot. __"__Oh. Oh! I have an idea__…"_

* * *

Bobby knew times had changed when he saw a tear crawling down Kitty's cheek.


	8. Midnight City

**Here's another chapter, a bit early since I felt bad about having to miss last weekend. Our holiday was pretty awesome though!**

**I was startled by the lovely reviews for the last chapter, and hope that you guys will enjoy this one too. I've decided to tone down the action and angsty stuff in this chapter, making it a bit more sweet (there's still angst, I can't resist). Please, please review, I'm thrilled by every single one!**

**I hope everyone's enjoying the last of the summer!**

* * *

Bobby's lips had been pressed into a thin line since having discovered the pool of blood on the floor. After mopping it up, he didn't move from her side, keeping his gloved hands pressed into her wound.

Logan hadn't become restless again, and even when his lips pursed or his hands clenched, the restraints tying him to the table were reassuring. Despite them, Kitty felt the slightest thrill of fear when he shifted on the table, and Bobby, damn him, could tell. The crease in his brow that had been a permanent instalment since the pair having reunited was furrowed even deeper.

"Hey," Kitty said, "You keep frowning and your face'll stay like that." Bobby looked up at her quickly, staring at her for a moment before barking out a laugh. Kitty's returning smile was weak, but it kept the grin on Bobby's face.

The pain in Kitty's side came and went, flaring up and dying down the more she tried to ignore it. It felt like she was on fire, and she wanted to take off her jacket. It was too warm to be wearing it, and she mentally berated herself for not already having done so before she began. She hid her discomfort under concentration, but even that task was growing more difficult. What Kitty needed was a distraction.

* * *

"_Does it have a name?__" __It had been decided a few months earlier that night-watches were much more effective when put in pairs, holding a smaller risk of two people falling asleep. Partners had been established quickly, with James and Clarice having become fast friends, and Piotr and Roberto together. Bishop seemed to like being alone, but occasionally someone would stay up with him. Kitty was staring up at the hazy moon when Bobby spoke._

_The group were in South Africa, hidden in a ruined skyscraper that was once a major printing press for the popular South African newspaper, _Mail & Guardian_. The sky was pink and orange, the sun having just dipped over the edge of the water to the west. Blue skies were rare these days, the smoke from all the destroyed cities never dissipated, leaving the world__'__s remaining inhabitants in a smoggy atmosphere. International war had been declared last month, and there wasn__'__t a person alive that didn__'__t feel unsafe anymore. _

"…_What?__"_

"_The dragon,__" __Bobby said, as if it were obvious, __"__Does it have a name?__"_

"_Er, yes__… __It__'__s Lockheed,__" __Kitty spoke bemusedly, __"__No one__'__s asked me that before,__" __her hand reached back absentmindedly, rubbing at the healing line across her back._

"_Lockheed,__" __Bobby repeated, __"__I like it. Why did you choose that? And when in hell did you get a tattoo?__" _

_Kitty frowned, __"__I don__'__t know, it just sort of__… __came to me. And I got it a few months before I left, right after my eighteenth,__" __she laughed, __"__I didn__'__t tell anyone, but Marie accidentally saw it when I was changing once. She nearly had a bird, it was hilarious.__" __Kitty smiled fondly at the memory, but stiffened, realizing that she had mentioned Rogue so carelessly. _

_Bobby sighed at Kitty__'__s reaction, but didn__'__t say anything, __"__That__'__s why you never wore tank tops anymore.__" __Kitty glanced at him amusedly. _

"_Since when did you ever notice what girls wear, Drake?__" __she asked teasingly, nudging his shoulder. Bobby__'__s grin was playful, but his eyes were serious. They always were these days._

"_I could never ignore you, Kitty.__" _

_The girl in question rolled her eyes at this, __"__You__'__re such a cheese ball, Bobby.__" _

_He smirked at her, but it faded quickly, __"__So, what was this plan you discovered when your back was all torn open? You never really explained it all.__" __Kitty turned away and sighed, shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her cargo pants. _

"_I__'__m not really sure__… __I mean, this is all kind of in theory. I haven__'__t even tried it out before, but I keep getting this _feeling_, like it__'__s what I__'__m supposed to be doing,__" __Kitty took a deep breath, __"__After, um, after I was relocated from the lab in Redding, I started getting these visions. They weren__'__t even proper visions, I don__'__t know how it works, really, but they were these glimpses into the past. At least, I think they were. They didn__'__t always go exactly as I remembered.__"_

_Bobby shifted, watching as Kitty paced, trying to explain._

"_Shit, well, for example, when I got taken by the Sentinels up in Canada, instead of me being there and getting attacked, I saw that clearing, but I wasn__'__t there. The Sentinels showed up, and I was just gone__… __They looked around for a bit, but moved on when they didn__'__t find me.__"_

"_So, you were invisible?__"_

"_No, I just wasn__'__t _there. _It__'__s like the day went exactly how it was meant to, except that I just never showed up, as if I had decided to take another route, but the Sentinels didn__'__t know. Wow, I__'__m doing a terrible job of this. Can I try to show you?__"_

"_Er, I guess so,__" __Bobby muttered, clearly still unsure._

_Kitty hesitated, but ordered, __"__Lie down here,__" __gesturing at the ground, Bobby did slowly, the coolness of the concrete seeping through his clothes comfortingly._

_She knelt over him, gazing around her before looking back down and placing her outstretched hands on either side of his head,__"__Okay, I__'__m not entirely sure how this works, but it might hurt a bit.__" __Bobby__'__s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but her eyes were already shut, and then there was a burning sensation in his brain. He bit back a groan of pain, gritting his teeth, when, quite suddenly, it stopped. _

"… _nearly had a bird, it was hilarious.__" __Kitty wasn__'__t facing him, she wasn__'__t anywhere near him. Her legs swung over the edge of the building in the spot they had been sitting a few minutes earlier. She sighed, looking down below her, her thoughts clearly having turned to Marie. Bobby stood up from his place on the roof behind her._

"_Kitty?__"_

"_Mhm? Hey, what are you doing back there?__" __her eyes held no recognition that she knew it had worked. But it had! She had sent him back. It was maybe only a total of five minutes, but Bobby was certain that could improve, and as he dwelled on the possibilities he decided they were nearly endless. Imagine if a day never happened, if, like Kitty had said, they were forewarned about an attack and moved on before the Sentinels showed up. It was brilliant._

"_Bobby?__" __Kitty sounded amused at Bobby__'__s apparent lack of attention, __"__C__'__mon, Drake, get your head out of the clouds.__" _

_He turned to her, smiling wryly, __"__Why should I? You__'__d never reach me up there.__" _

_Kitty__'__s mouth opened at the insult, __"__So help me, I__'__ll take you down someday.__" _

"_You wish, pipsqueak,__" __He gazed at her fondly, but knew he had to tell her, __"__Kit, it worked.__"_

"_What worked?__" _

"_You sent me back. You told me about your visions of when stuff happened that you saw something that happened, but it had been altered. Now I__'__m the one doing a terrible job of explaining it,__" __Bobby laughed a bit, scratching at his scruff. Kitty pulled herself to her feet stiffly, he could tell her back was still paining her, but the joy on her face concealed her discomfort._

"_Holy shit, you__'__re sure?__" __Bobby nodded enthusiastically, __"__Oh my God, it worked!__" __she cried, and Kitty _laughed_. _

_Bobby stared. She hadn__'__t laughed for over two years. Kitty__'__s eyes were lit up, colour in her cheeks, and her lips pulled back to reveal teeth in a grin so wide it seemed to split her face. It was the most beautiful sight Bobby had ever seen._

_Without a second thought, the pair were in an embrace, Kitty__'__s head tucked snugly under Bobby__'__s chin, her arms wrapped around his neck, and his pulling her waist in to him. Her body still shook with laughter, and he unconsciously pulled her closer in approval of the sound. _

_When they pulled apart, there were tears running down Kitty__'__s cheeks._

"_Oh, Kit, what__'__s wrong?__" _

_She sniffed, still smiling a bit, __"__I just can__'__t believe__… __We can save so many people.__"_

"You_ can. You can save so many people,__" __Bobby corrected, __"__You__'__re a miracle.__"_

"_We all are.__" __but something in Kitty__'__s face made Bobby think about what she had said earlier. _

"_You said earlier you were in a lab__… __In Redding? Kitty, when was this?__"_

_She dropped her eyes, deflecting, __"__I never said that.__"_

"_You did. You did before you sent me back. When was this?__"__Kitty sighed, looking back out at the city again. The light in the sky was fading, a few lights still glittering in the darkening night, but much fewer since the war began. _

"_Right after I was taken. It was where I was brought first. I was there for five months maybe?__" __her voice was nearly a whisper as she tried to keep her emotions in check._

"_You said you were relocated?__" __Bobby prompted._

"_After a fire. They destroyed half the labs, rescued some mutants. Others weren__'__t so lucky; we got taken to Camp L. Why are you asking me this?__" __Now Bobby was the one that wouldn__'__t meet her eyes._

"_Jesus. Kitty, I was one of the ones to start those fires. A group of us did it, trying to find friends, family. It was a long shot, but we got Sunspot and Blink out of there, among others. They were the only ones to stick around,__" __he swallowed, __"__My God, I was so close to you and didn__'__t realize it. Two fucking years. I could have gotten you out two years ago.__"_

_Kitty glared at him her eyes still wet, __"__Don__'__t you dare blame yourself, Bobby Drake. How could you have known. Just__… __shut up, okay? I don__'__t care.__"_

"_Fuck,__" __he buried his face in his arms, rage taking over, __"__I could've had you two years ago. I don__'__t- I should__'__ve known.__"  
__Kitty wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her nose against the back of his neck as he turned away, __"__How could you have known?__" __she repeated, murmuring into his skin, __"__It doesn__'__t matter anymore. I__'__m here now. I__'__m here to stay.__"_

"_I can__'__t lose you again, Kitty. You__'__re the only one I have left,__" __Bobby was silent for a moments before taking a deep, shuddering breath, __"__I went back to my house a few months after starting the fires. I hadn__'__t talked to my family in almost a year__… __I guess I hoped that if I didn__'__t contact them, somehow they__'__d be safe. I was wrong though__… __They were all dead, Kitty, even Ronnie.__"_

"_Oh, Bobby.__"_

"_I buried them in our back yard.__" __Kitty pulled on his shoulders, turning him back to face her. She grabbed one of his large hands and pulled his glove off, revealing skin scarred from fighting and permanently swollen from the cold. Moving slowly, she locked eyes with him as she pressed his hand to her chest, her heartbeat thudding steadily through her t-shirt, under his fingertips._

"_I__'__m here.__"_


End file.
